


The Disciple's Trail

by Le_purple



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Archaeology, Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Caves, Exploration, F/M, Gen, Glittering Caves, Painting, Psionics, Sadstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:33:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21549958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Le_purple/pseuds/Le_purple
Summary: From ceiling to floor, the cave was covered in The Disicple's work, wall to wall. There were intricate drawings of the groups sigils, and giant murals depicting The Sufferer preaching, all drawn in animal blood and mineral paints. Aradia stood back in awe, suddenly surrounded by an entirely different cave that was full of life and stories.Aradia finds one of The Disciple's caves, and tracks down her resting place.
Relationships: The Disciple/The Signless | The Sufferer
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	The Disciple's Trail

Aradia looked at the mouth of the cave, examining it closely. The rocks were overgrown with vines and moss, collapsing in and almost blocking up the entirety of the entrance, making it look like ancient ruins. The problem was, the structure of the cave was sound, almost as if someone was trying to hide something.  
This was definitely a good find!

She stepped back and made sure to take a strong stance, raising her hands and activating her psionics. A red glow coated the rocks and her hands, the earth rumbling beneath her feet as the boulders shifted, dirt and pebbles falling to the ground like hail. Wiping her brow, Aradia sighed and carefully entered the cave, using her psionics for light so she could get a better look.

The cave was smaller and shallower than she expected, the troll able to see the end from the entrance if she squinted. From her experience, Aradia could tell that the cave was someone's hive once, probably from before the time all the adults left Alternia, but had been abandoned since, shown by the dry moss and dead grass that peeked through the rocks on the almost flat ground, and the smooth, yet rugged look of the walls and ceiling, long smothered with dead vines.

The troll began scanning the area for anything of interest, and she could tell that whoever lived there, left in a hurry. Old shattered pots and bones littered the floor, the scraps of animal hide and fur long decayed into brittle leathers. Over-all there was little of value. However, there was something on the wall that intrigued her. There was the faintest glimmer of colour.  
The troll's blood splatter perhaps?

Aradia carefully moved the dead vines and was hit with too many thoughts to process at once. There was a primitive cave painting of an oliveblood. But how? The cave was far too recently abandoned to be from the early trolls! But who could've-

"...Oh my gog..." She girl gasped, unable to think properly. This was... "No way..."

Aradia used her psionics to burn up the vines, the dead plants instantly falling to the dirt as ash. As the vines fell away, the entire wall was revealed, and Aradia's eyes sparkled in delight.

"I can't believe it! The-this-I found The Disciple-WOW!"

From ceiling to floor, the cave was covered in The Disicple's work, wall to wall. There were intricate drawings of the groups sigils, and giant murals depicting The Sufferer preaching, all drawn in animal blood and mineral paints. Aradia stood back in awe, suddenly surrounded by an entirely different cave that was full of life and stories. She took out her palmhusk and began filming, wanting to capture everything.  
She could stay there for SWEEPS!

Something caught Aradia's eye. It was a relatively small sequence of pictures like most of the others, but it was more like a storyboard or comic strip than anything else, even accompanied by writing. Although the cave did feature writing, this was the first painting to actually feature a first person narrative.

* * *

Meulin ran through the forest, clutching her love's legging to her chest with tears in her eyes. She ran and she didn't look back, still able to hear her pursuers, and somehow, Kankri's screams. The image of his bleeding body was still fresh in her mind, her photographic memory betraying her as his crying face branded itself to her eyelids. All she could see was his face, printed with agony, Porrim and Mituna thrashing and crying loudly in protest.  
Mituna managed to kill most of the soldiers with his psionics, but he was quickly quelled with a represent collar. She heard talk of him becoming a helmsman.  
Porrim tried to fight too but was quickly restrained, unspeakable comments made about her and what was going to happen to her.  
Meulin managed to escape their hold and grab Kankri's leggings, unable to look at her dead love's face.

But that's when she realised. The executioner's bow was aimed straight at her.  
His eyes were dark and locked onto her, but for some reason his hands trembled. He gave her the command to run, and she ran without looking back, leaving Mituna and Porrim to their fates.

She stopped in her tracks as she reached the edge of a steep hill, the tops of the trees almost tall enough to level the height of the hill. Quickly Meulin whipped her head around and saw that the soldiers were getting closer and closer, and jumped, holding the leggings to her chest as she tumbled down the side. The soldiers stopped at the ledge and watched her land at the bottom, covered in dirt, leaves and old sticks, the troll quickly running off into the forest.

From the way the air warmed up, Meulin could tell that the sun was going to rise any minute, and she'd need to find shelter quick. She began frantically rushing around, desperately seeking out anywhere she could take shelter from the sun in. Just as she felt its glare on her back, she found refuge in a small cave, thick, beautiful vines blocking out the sunlight.

Meulin took the cave as her new hive, painting her friends adventures on the walls, building a shrine for her loves leggings, and surviving on her own as she had done for many sweeps prior to meeting Kankri. The forest was also a regular haunt for her. She would hunt, carve sermons into the thick bark of the trees, and even try to preach to any hunters who would wander into her territory like Kankri did, to...mixed results.

Her life revolved around her lost love and friends, mourning them and letting their memories and lives carry on through her. Every thing she did was for them.  
Love and regret twisted her mind until she saw their ghosts. She knew that Mituna and Porrim were still alive and suffering, but she could see their ghosts, hear their whispers, feel their presence's. Some nights they'd be their past selves, chatting to her and recalling pleasant memories, their eyes sparkling. Some days, where the lack of sopor rattled her mind, she could feel them clawing at her, begging and pleading her help, white eyes tearing into her soul. Mituna was bleeding all over, pink tendrils threading in and out of his veins. Porrim was weak and frail, her eyes wet and her body abused. Kankri was screaming. Always screaming. His cries were louder than the rest, but his throat was hoarse and overworked. His blood dripped from all the cuts that coated his skin, the blue arrow in his chest attached like a third horn. His wrists were permanently weighed down by the scorching metal, the lurid glow brighter than the Alternian sun.

Every moment of her life was for them and only them, her purpose was to make sure they were remembered and that they lived on.

* * *

Aradia looked away from the scribbles, an uncomfortable feeling washing over her. It was...so sad. This is what happened to The Disciple? She went crazy and died in a cave?! She couldn't just accept that!

But...she didn't have to, did she?  
She could assume that The Disciple's body and The Sufferer's leggings were taken and destroyed or stolen my zealots.  
She could assume that she heard incoming danger, and quickly fled and blocked up the cave, taking the leggings with her.  
She could also assume that the latter is entirely true and the former was WAY too pessimistic.

Aradia carefully blocked up the cave after she left, not wanting anyone else to stumble upon her discovery. If what the paintings said was true, then there would be a trail of scarred trees or scratched rocks leading to her next location. Luckily for her, the night was still young, and she still had plenty of time to explore the dense forest and search for anything she had left behind. After all, she couldn't have gone out too far, right?

The troll scoured the thick woodlands for any remnants of The Disciple, leaving no stone unturned and searching every tree for any engravings. To her luck, the forest was untouched by the hands of other trolls, none of the trees felled or disturbed for their lumber, although it did mean that traversing the woods was quite difficult, and looking for specific markings was even harder.

Just as Aradia was going to decide to look elsewhere for clues, she stumbled over a rock, landing her face first into the undergrowth. She looked over to the rock, and gasped in pleasant surprise, quickly holding it close to her face.  
'Heed my words, friends. From the day we are hatched we are taught hate and fear, we are taught to kill and to steal. I know that there is good inside all of us. No matter the hardships we've faced, no matter what we have done, we can all change, we can all find the light of love inside of us, and make our world so much brighter. We could outshine the sun itself! We just need to forget our fears, and learn how to be good again.'

* * *

Kankri opened his eyes and looked at the applauding crowd, sighing happily at the response.  
"Thank you, friends! You don't know how much your kindness means to me!" He said. Despite what his words, he began to lose his composure, blushing and showing his teeth as he smiled.

"That was sooo good, Kankri!" Meulin burst, tackling her love with a tight hug. "You were amazing!"

"I-Thanks!" Kankri stammered, petting Meulins mane before wrapping his arms around her to hug his Love back.

"I know you just made a speech about love or whatever, but if you two keep doing that, I will barf." Mituna remarked.

"Hush it four-horns!" Meulin hissed, clutching Kankri close.

"Meulin." He warned, the troll looking up into his eyes and quickly feeling bad.

"...sorry."

"Mituna?"

"What?"

"Mituna."

"What? I didn't-" Kankri gave him the same look he gave Meulin. "...Sorry."

"Thank you."

As Kankri looked away, the pair stuck their tongues out at each other.

\--

Meulin sighed happily, reminiscing fondly as she carved into the stone. She hoped that other trolls would see her messages.  
She hadn't been seen in public since her loves execution out of fear, so the only way she could spread his word was through her carvings. Over time she had grown particularly proficient in carving, her skills previously more geared towards finger-painting, but she could quickly chip away at stone and wood with her tools or claws to copy down a sermon, or even simple pictures!

* * *

Aradia got to her feet and looked around through the undergrowth, realising that she was surrounded by smooth rocks, engraved with ancient words.  
"There's-there's so many!" She burst, smiling ear to ear. "She HAS to be around here!"

She grabbed a couple of the rocks and began scouting around for a lead, kicking through the leaves to uncover the trail of stones. The surrounding trees looked rough, yet untouched, the carvings probably pulled away by ivy, scarred over, or even perhaps the original tree had long since died and she was actually walking through a regrown forest, though she figured that was unlikely.  
After a few minutes of tracking, the stones began to dwindle until she had to search hard for the next ones, almost losing track of where she was going. Aradia was starting to get a little worried. This was her only lead! The Disciple had been dead for hundreds or sweeps, not to mention the fact that drones had probably cleared away any trace of her that they could find!  
Oh gog they probably removed the rest of the path and couldn't find-

Aradia gasped as she fell into a tunnel, quickly using her psionics to cushion her fall before she could potentially shatter a horn or worse. The hole was pretty deep but the entrance was barely large enough to accommodate her, the already small space overgrown by grass and ivy roots. Once she landed she set out on exploring, taken back when she discovered what her psionics illuminated.

* * *

Meulin began digging as fast as she could, leggings tied to her neck and draped over her back to protect it from the dirt. Her body wasn't as young as it used to be, and running from the drones had become difficult. She needed a place to rest.  
In her haste, Meulin hadn't realised that the hole began to collapse in on itself, crumbling under her touch until it formed itself. She rapidly began scrambling into the hole, thanking Kankri that she had found a cave system to dwell in.

She spent the remainder of her days frantically turning the caves into her masterpeice, spending every waking hour painting and talking to her friends, forgetting to even feed herself sometimes. Over time the ghosts solidified in her life, flashing between being hideous apparitions and reminders of her failures, and her dear friends visiting her and continuing life through her eyes. They'd help her with her art and talk to her through her loneliness, Meulin forgetting that they were dead in the first place.

Eventually she knew that she would be able to join them. She had done all she could, finished all of her work, and had painted until the colours filled her mind.  
"Are you ready, Meulin?" Porrim asked gently, her cave filling with light.

"I-I'm not sure." She replied, her voice no longer rasping and her body no longer hurting.

"Come on, do you know how long we've waited?" Mituna urged sarcastically, his anxious eyes betraying his feigned apathy.

"It's alright Meulin," Kankri said, holding her cheek in his warm hand. "You've done amazing. You don't have to wait any longer, love."

"I love you, Kankri." She uttered, a final tear running down her wrinkled cheek.

* * *

It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Every inch of the walls was covered in the most beautiful and horrific things she had ever set her eyes upon, distorted faces and echos of sanity smeared alongside symphonies of colour with the most delicate and intricate details. Wandering through the tunnels felt like exploring an ancient temple, eyes blessed by the sacred art, hues engulfing her brain and calling to her like the muse did to the artist. She could almost hear The Disciples' voice, and the whispers of The Dolorosa, and the cries of The Helmsman, and the sermons of The Sufferer, the nonexistent sounds whirling around her like music.

She reached the end of the cavern and was greeted by a hollow room, the light of her psionics bouncing around the walls like stained glass. The ceiling of the clearing was covered in glistening crystals, the spectrum of light shining down its ethereal glow on the paintings.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she was allowed to witness the interior, a bittersweet feeling and a beautiful despair washing over her. The Disciples skeleton was curled up around The Sufferers leggings, the scraps of her clothes draped over her bones. She was resting on leathery hide that was probably once luscious fur, the hide dusted with small piles of dirt that was once her body, eaten away by whatever insects found its way to her. But that wasn't what caused such emotions to stir within Aradia.

The walls were painted so beautifully, with murals for each of her companions, smiling faces unharmed and as happy as the day they met, as the light spilled from above and gave them a celestial glow. Bushels of flowers were painted along side them to frame their visages and fill every inch of the walls, with delicate lilacs and blues alongside bright red and yellows, underlined by green foliage, like a meadow of blood, stone and light. The colour spilled onto the floor too, a path of painted flowers leading to The Disciple's body and coiling around her resting place before dispersing out over the ground like a field.

Aradia looked over to the body and found that under her there was a stone slab, engraved with lines of text, and as she read it she could almost hear the whispers of the dead through The Disciple's voice.  
'This beautiful world that we live in gives as much as it takes.  
It takes away so many innocent lives,  
It takes away love,  
It takes away hope.

But it cannot take away what it doesn't give.  
I have been given so much love, so much hope, so many people in this world that I care about.

It was my fault they died.  
Porrim, Mituna, Kankri,  
I could've saved them.  
But I still love them and I feel them in my heart wherever I my go.  
I have been tormented by the claws of guilt, but also held in the arms by the affirmation that they love me,  
Even if I could've done more.

I hope that when we meet, they forgive me.  
I hope that they forgive my weakness and failure because their hearts are kind even if I am the cause of their stolen pulses.

But I am so, so tiered.  
I'll see them again soon,  
When I fall asleep.'

Aradia set the tablet down back under her, her tear-blurred eyes making sure that The Sufferer's leggings were still in her gentle caress. She wanted to leave her exactly as she was, hoping that she was finally able to join Porrim, Mituna and Kankri again.

Aradia wasn't going to tell anyone about her finds, she wanted to make sure that Meulin got her rest.


End file.
